Apple rumored to cancel iPhone X production in summer

Apple is rumored to be contemplating bringing an end to the iPhone X production given lackluster demand for the same. In particular, Apple is believed to be not too happy with the way the iPhone X fared in China. And much of that has to do with the notch at the top which is being perceived as wastage of viewable area.

Also, with the prediction coming from none other than the usually dependable KGI Securities’ analyst Ming-Chi Kuo makes it something that we can’t just ignore without adequate deliberation. Kuo has been surprisingly spot-on with most of his Apple-related predictions and is now claiming the iPhone X production reaching an end by the coming summer itself.

This quite contradicts the usual practice within Apple, that of adding the outgoing model to the device line-up at a lower price when the successor takes center stage. The last time Apple has discontinued a product was the iPhone 5C in 2014.

Also, while the top notch is being faulted by many for eating up vital display area, the same also is the place that houses some of the most advanced technologies that make the latest iPhone X so unique. That includes the Face ID tech along with sensors that make the anniversary iPhone to be the first mobile to see a large-scale implementation of AR tech for both entertainments in the form of animoji and security as exemplified by Face ID.

Kuo, however, has not based his latest prediction on feedback from the supply chain manufacturers. Instead, the less than expected demand for the iPhone X in China is believed to be the reason Kuo is foreseeing an end of the road for the flagship model. That said, Kuo believes the iPhone X lineage will continue to spawn into at least three new handsets all based on largely the same design though slightly more refined.

Among the three new iPhone X successors believed to be in the pipeline will offer 5.8-inch, 6.1-inch and 6.5-inch displays. The notch will likely still be there in all three versions but in a reduced state, enough to make it seem less disruptive.

However, no matter how outrageous the prediction might seem together with the reliability Kuo is known for, it simply does not seem to make much of an economic sense. That again has to do with the investment Apple has already made into his iPhone X production and simply cancelling the device within just a year might lead to the component manufacturers to incur significant loses. But then, the iPhone X also sold less than the iPhone 8 during the holiday quarter, Consumer Intelligence Research Partners revealed in a new report, which means Apple surely has a new issue at hand with the iPhone X.

On the whole, while it is true the iPhone X has failed to live up to the people’s expectations, its successors could well make up more than adequately for the loses iPhone X makes for if that happens at all.